‘The boy can’t read,’ Freize said. ‘So you’re safe enough in that. Us servants know nothing. He won’t read your secrets, he would not dream of breaking your seal. But he understands what you’re saying. He’s a bright enough boy.’

Reluctantly, Brother Peter handed the letter to Luca, who paused for only a moment to study the seals and then passed it to the boy, who knuckled his forehead in a sort of rough salute and went out.

‘What does it mean?’ Luca asked. ‘That seal? I saw it on the arm of the man who recruited me to the order.’

‘It is the symbol of the order that you know as the Order of Darkness,’ Brother Peter replied quietly. He waited till the door had closed behind Freize and then he rolled up the sleeve of his robe to his shoulder and showed a faded version of the design, tattooed over his upper arm. He looked at Luca’s shocked face.

‘It’s pale, because I have worn it for so long,’ he said. ‘I entered the Order when I was younger than you. I swore to it heart and soul when I was little more than a boy.’

‘No-one has asked me to take the symbol on my body.’ Luca said uneasily. ‘I don’t know if I would.’

‘You’re an apprentice,’ Brother Peter replied. ‘When you have held enough inquiries, and learned enough, when you are wise enough and thoughtful enough: then they may invite you to join the Order.’

‘Who? Who will invite me?’

Brother Peter smiled. ‘It’s a secret order. Not even I know who serves in it. I report to Milord, and he reports to the Holy Father. I know you. I know two other inquirers that I have served with. I know no more than them. We look for the signs of God and Satan in the world and we warn of the end of days.’

‘And do we only defend?’ Luca asked shrewdly. ‘Or do we also attack?’

‘We do as we are commanded,’ Brother Peter said smoothly. ‘In defence or attack we are obedient to the Order.’

‘And the one that you call Milord – it was him who took me from my monastery to Castle Sant’ Angelo, who spoke to me, who gave me this mission and sent me to be trained?’

‘Yes.’

‘Is he the commander of the Order?’

‘Yes.’

‘Do you know his name?’

In reply Brother Peter showed Luca the blank reports in his writing box that were already addressed, ready for dispatch. They all read only:

Urgent

‘No name?’

‘No name.’

‘He has no name but your letter will get to him? Just that? Just the seal of the dragon? It needs no name nor direction?’

‘It will get to him, if the boy gets it to Father Josef in Avezzano.’

‘This Father Josef – the parish priest of the Church of St Paul, Avezzano – he is of our Order?’